NATIONAL FOOD & NUTRITION
SECURITY POLICY
Seerat Asghar
Secretery
Ministry of National Food Security and Research,
Pakistan
FOOD SECURITY
Exists “when all people, at all times have physical,
social and economic access to sufficient, safe and
nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and
food preferences for an active and healthy life.”
(World Food Summit,1996)
Food security covers:
• Availability: Domestic production and imports
• Access: Purchasing power
• Utilization: Ability of the human body to
digest and metabolize food
Contd..
ACHIEVEMENTS IN FOOD PRODUCTION
Agriculture sector growth rate
1980s 5.4%
1990s 4.4%
2000s 3.0%
2011 2.4
2012 3.1
Record production:
Wheat (2008-09) 24.03 million tons, 2010: 23.3 million
tons), 2011: 25.2 million tons, 2012: 23.5 million tons
Rice (2008-09) 7 million tons, 2010: 6.88 million tons,
2011: 4.8 million tons, 2012: 6.1 million tons
Freedom from wheat imports
PER CAPITA AVAILABILITY OF SELECTED
FOODS (KG/ANNUM)
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10
Wheat 122.9 117.7 125.4 132.8 126.8 125
Rice 13.0 15.1 12.7 15.0 21.2 17.9
Pulses 6.8 8.2 6.9 7.2 7.7 7.7
Edible
Oils
12.4 12.8 12.8 13.3 13.5 12.5
Source: Agricultural Statistics of Pakistan, 2009-10.
• Stagnancy in productivity (land degradation)
• Energy crisis/high input costs
• Decline in incomes
• Global food prices surge
• High dependence on imported food
• Growing incidences of food related diseases
• Increase in poverty
FACTOR AFFECTING FOOD SECURITY
CONSEQUENCES OF FOOD INSECURITY
Malnutrition
Minor Protein-energy malnutrition
Major micro-nutrients deficiencies
Underweight and stunted children
Impact on Social Indicators
Health
Education
Low productivity of labour force
CHALLENGES FOR FOOD SECURITY
High Population growth rate
Low investments to boost agriculture and food production
Declining Water availability
Climate change and disasters
Vast productivity gap between progressive and resource poor farmers
Rising prices of essential food items
Limited food diversification
Health related issues
Generally neglected – most vulnerable segments
• Adequate production through enhancing productivity
• Availability of farm inputs at reasonable prices and ensuring better return to farmers
• Stability of food prices
• Targeted subsidies and safety nets for poor and
vulnerable
• Free movement of agricultural commodities
through a sustainable food distribution system
• Increasing investment to build grain storage space through public and private sector participation
General Objectives NATIONAL FOOD POLICY
• Achieving an average agricultural growth rate at least of
4% per annum
• Developing an efficient and equitable system of food
procurement , storage and distribution
• Improving access of poor household to food by adopting
pro-poor growth strategy and providing non-farm
employment on a substantial scale
• Building a transparent and well managed system of
safety nets to provide income support to very poor
households
MAIN ELEMENTS OF FOOD SECURITY STRATEGY
• Increasing investment in R & D for knowledge based and technology led development of agriculture sector with increased provincial role
• Enhancing food production through exploiting available productivity potential
• Promoting investment in health and education sectors
• Implementation of efficient safety nets
• Equitable development of economy and resource utilization with a focus on poor and vulnerable segments of society
• Smallholder productivity/competitiveness
General Objectives MAIN THRUSTS TO ENSURE FOOD SECURITY
• Launching of National Income Support Programme
• National Task Force on Food Security
• Attractive farm- gate price for wheat crop
• Intervention price mechanism for rice and pulses
• Enhancing Food Grains Storage Capacity
• Special Programme for Food Security
• Subsidized food items through Utility Stores network
• Wheat flour iron fortification programme
SPECIFIC INITIATIVES